saving on the cost of shipping online merchandise

Lowering the shipping costs of your operation could benefit your bottom line enormously. If you're regularly having shipping containers delivered either locally or internationally, you can probably cut your shipping costs if you familiarize yourself with the factors that impact prices.

The following are five different aspects of your shipping container delivery needs that could be driving up costs at your company:

Whether or not you purchase insurance

Most likely, you're investing in insurance so that you're reimbursed if you're items are damaged en route. Depending on the value of the contents of your shipping containers, this insurance could be very important.

However, if you're shipping low cost bulk items, you may be better off taking a gamble and not insuring a delivery. If damaged goods are the fault of your shipping service provider, the shipping company may be willing to reimburse you even if you don't have insurance. 

The contents of your containers

Some shipping container contents could drive the overall shipping costs up. For example, if you are having organic materials shipped, the cost could be higher. 

Organic materials like plants and fruits sometimes need to be declared and even quarantined to prevent biological contaminants from reaching a certain geographic area. This might necessitate holding fees that must be paid for the time during which your container is under quarantine.

The size of your shipping containers

The larger your containers are, the more they'll cost to transport. This means that it's important to optimize space when packing containers.

A tightly packed container is not only more cost effective, but it also protects your items from damage. In a loosely packed container, there will be more open space in which items can move around en route and become damaged. 

The site to which your containers are delivered

You'll have to have your shipping containers sited at their new destination. For this, you'll need foundations at the destination site on which to place the shipping containers. 

One of the most affordable ways to site delivered shipping containers is to use a tilt flatbed trailer. With a tilt flatbed trailer, containers can be easily brought up right next to the foundation and quickly slid into place. 

Whether or not your containers are being shipped internationally

Naturally, international shipping is more expensive than local or domestic shipping. If you're using overseas delivery to do business internationally, you should put some careful calculations into determining if all the additional costs of shipping internationally- like tariffs, air or ocean transport, and more- are not too expensive to make your international business worthwhile. Contact a business, such as Slana Inc., for more information.